Player: My Sportsbook Wants to Pay Me in Bitcoin, Is This Fair?

An SBR Forum reader wrote in via email sharing his feedback that his online sportsbook of choice would like to issue his withdrawal in bitcoin instead of the option he initially used to deposit.

The player wanted SBR's opinion on if the situation was fair or not, because he is somewhat reluctant to transact with bitcoin.

In this industry, whether a sportsbook serves market ABC or market XYZ, third-party processors are used for almost all methods. For various reasons, the availability of these methods are subject to change.

The standard has always been if a player is unable to receive payment through an option advertised when he signed up - especially if he deposited the same way - a sportsbook would make arrangements to pay the player through an alternate method at the same cost.

With respect to bitcoin, almost all sportsbooks process transaction entirely for free, as was the case in this player's situation. As long as betting sites are able to pay through bitcoin in an efficient manner then this is a reasonable arrangement if another more preferred option is not available.